1203 



1322 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



Eneravings. Pall. Ross., 1, t. 4. ; N. Du Ham., 1. t. 89. ; Bot. Reg., t. 115(5. ; our Jig. 1203., and the 

 plate in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., S^-c. A tree, growing to the height of from 15 ft. to 20 ft. Leaves 

 lanceolate, hoary all over, as are the shoots of the current year, with stars 

 of hairs of a hoary colour. Branches brown and smooth, more or less spiny. 

 Leaves 2 — 3 in. long; upon the upper surface whitish 

 green, and upon the under one very hoary. Flowers 

 2 or 3 together, axillary, upon short peduncles, fragrant j K^\^ 

 bisexual flower 4-cleft, interior of a pale yellow; male \v. ^"^ 

 ones 5 or more cleft, interior of a golden yellow. Both ^^ 

 are furnished on the exterior with stars of hairs, like the 

 under surface of the leaves. Fruit of a red-brown colour, 

 something like a small date. A native of the south of 

 Europe, in Bohemia, France, Spain, the Levant, Tar- 

 tary, and various parts of Asiatic Russia; flowering in 

 May, and ripening its fruit in August. It was introduced 

 in 1633, and is frequent in collections. The silvery ,-^j>' 

 whiteness of the foliage of this tree renders it a most ^^\J^ 

 conspicuous object in plantations ; and hence, in any 

 view where it is wished to attract the eye to a par- 

 ticular point, it may be usefully employed. For ex- 

 ample, suppose a villa surrounded by grounds perfectly flat, with a boundary 

 strip of plantation, or shrubbery, in the middle distance, a monotonous 

 third distance, in which there is no object of interest but the spire of a 

 church, and that scarcely perceptible over the tops of the trees of the 

 plantation : plant one or two trees of elaeagnus in that part of the 

 plantation over which the eye sees the spire, and they will, by the light 

 colour of their foliage, attract the eye in that direction. This tree, which 

 is called by the Portuguese the tree of Paradise, is also remarkable 

 for the fragrance of its blossoms, which are produced in great abundance 

 in May, and perfume the air for a considerable distance around. For 

 this reason it is a most desirable tree for a lawn or shrubbery. There 

 are good specimens in the Horticultural Society's Garden ; but the finest 

 trees that we have seen, were, in 18)5, in the grounds of Malmaison, near 

 Paris, where they were nearly 30 ft. high, and with heads nearly as much in 

 diameter. In the Levant, the fruit of the cultivated varieties, E. h. orientalis 

 and dactylifurmis, is made into preserves, and also dried like pistachia nuts. 

 The plant requires a sheltered situation, and, to attain any size, must be 

 planted in a good soil. Price of plants in the London nurseries, 2s-. Qd. 

 each ; at Bollwyller 1 franc 50 cents; and at New York, 1 dollar. 

 Varieties. Bieberstein, in his FL Taur. Cauc.y i. p. 112, 1 13., as quoted in Rcem. 

 ct Schitlt. Syst. and Bot. Beg., has comprehended under one species several 

 forms, some of which are treated of as specifically distinct by Linnaeus and 

 other botanists. He gives E. hortensis as the name of the species, which 

 he considers to exist under tlie four following forms : — 



i E. //. 1 angtisiifolia Bieb., E. angustifolia L. — Leaves lanceolate, 



shining. Fruit insipid. This is the most conmion sort in British 



gardens. There is a tree of it in the Horticultural Society's Garden, 



20 ft. high ; and one at Kew, 8 ft. high. 



i E. /i. 2 dactylij'ormis. — Leaves lanceolate, shining. Fruit date-shaped, 



eatable. 

 t E. //. 3 oricntdlix, E. orientiilis L., Pall. Fl. Ross., \. t. 5., Gmel. It. 

 III., t. 4. — Branches not spiny. Fruit datc-shapcil, eatable; almost 

 as large as that of a jujul)e, and used in the dessert in Persia, where 

 it is called zinzeyd. The flowers are more fragrant than those of 

 E. h. angustifolia. {Liiidl. in Bot. Beg., t. 11 5G., and in Xat. Si/sf. 

 Bot., p. I94.) There are [)lants of this variety in the Horti- 

 cultural Society's Garden, and there is one in the Ciiclsea Botanic 

 Garden. 



